by Adi Joseph, USA TODAY Sports

by Adi Joseph, USA TODAY Sports

The Los Angeles Lakers center was fined $35,000 for his flagrant 2 foul during Wednesday's 126-112 loss to the Denver Nuggets, the NBA announced Thursday. The call came after he stuck out his arm to derail a third-quarter dunk attempt by Kenneth Faried.

"I was surprised it was a flagrant 2," Howard said Wednesday night. "My intention was never to hurt Faried. I like the young fellow and my intention was just to foul. I come down the lane, somebody is going to foul me hard, put me on the free throw line and make me shoot free throws. It was the same kind of thing."

But Faried said he thought Howard was taking out his frustrations in the heat of the moment.

"He saw my eyes, I wasn't going to back down, I wasn't going to try to float it," Faried said. "I was going to try to dunk on him. He saw it. That's why he put his hand directly in my face."